John Degenkolb from Oberursel has been a professional cyclist since 2011. His greatest successes were the victories at the cycling monuments Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo in 2015 and winning a stage of the tour in 2018. The 34-year-old family man is contesting his ninth Tour of France this summer.
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That was a different start to a Tour de France than usual! There was a lot more altitude on the first two stages that had to be overcome. The atmosphere and mood in the Basque Country was absolutely unique, that’s what they always say at the Grand Depart, but the Basque fans were just incredibly euphoric. It was a lot of fun to see people’s enthusiasm.
The two stages were really mega-demanding, and the third had a few meters of altitude difference, but there was a sprint at the end. There were already a few riders who felt their legs, which is why only two drove away and in the end everyone was happy that there was a sprint. In a Grand Tour, it has actually never been the case that you have entered the race with such demanding profiles.
Infographic The 21 stages of the 110th Tour de France
Do I like that or not? Such a start definitely makes the races safer. There are fewer falls because nervousness and hectic pace are definitely not that great on such difficult stages. You notice your legs a bit more afterwards than if there had been two flat stages or if there had been a prologue at the beginning. This first week of the tour will take a long time. Basically, I think a prologue would have been good for the Tour, followed by two tough stages, but the Basques don’t like things that short that much. But even as it was, it wasn’t bad.
As I said, the race was less hectic and so far only two riders had to leave injured after falls. There were years on the tour when we lost ten men after three days. Overall, I see this as a successful attempt to make cycling a little safer.
If we look ahead, then of course we also see what is happening in France, the serious riots in Paris in particular. I’ve been following this to a certain extent in the media, it’s a topic that shouldn’t be underestimated and the organizers of the Tour de France take it very seriously in order to enable us to race safely to the end. It was already the case last year that we were blocked by actions by climate activists. That can also happen again this year – and even more so with the violent protests.
It all started on Saturday for John Degenkolb and his team. : Image: picture alliance/dpa/Belga
If we look ahead in terms of sport, then you have to realize that the first sprint didn’t go that well for our team. We didn’t manage to place our sprinter Sam Welsford in such a way that he could fight for the first places. The motivation is great to do better at the next opportunity. In the overall standings we got through the first few days well. Now our captain Romain Bardet has a couple of difficult stages ahead of us and we have to support him as much as we can.
